Note: Many tweets about #PulseOrlando use “Latinx” instead of Latina/o. Why?
“The ‘x’ makes Latino, a masculine identifier, gender-neutral. It also moves beyond Latin@ – which has been used in the past to include both masculine and feminine identities – to encompass genders outside of that limiting man-woman binary.
Latinx, pronounced ‘La-teen-ex,’ includes the numerous people of Latin American descent whose gender identities fluctuate along different points of the spectrum, from agenderornonbinarytogender non-conforming, genderqueerandgenderfluid.”http://www.latina.com/lifestyle/our-issues/why-we-say-latinx-trans-gender-non-conforming-people-explain

Here is a Macro Social Work version of an #OrlandoSyllbus. It can help us understand the facts and the complex layers of meaning of the June 12, 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub. It includes some implications for social work practice.

Please note the #PulseOrlandoSyllabus, listed below, is extensive. It includes current articles, in addition to less recent publications.

Intro by Sheri LaBree, MSW:

Much has been written in the media regarding the massacre that took place in Orlando on June 11th. Politicians, pundits and other talking heads have discussed the motives of the attacker, the morals of those that were injured or killed, and of course, they have talked about gun control.

What do we know, nearly two weeks later? Very little. We know that 49 individuals were murdered, and dozens were injured.

The attack occurred at a “gay nightclub.” To me, this label is misleading. Pulse, the nightclub where this occurred, was a sanctuary for the LGBTQ community. It was a safe place. Or at least it was supposed to be.

These people were more than “just” gay. They were sisters, brothers, cousins, coworkers, friends. Like all of us, their lives cannot be neatly divided into labels. The murdered include a social worker, an accountant, a dancer, and an aspiring nurse, among others.

Was this massacre a hate crime against the LGBTQ community? Was it the work of an Islamic terrorist? We may never know. Here’s the question: does it matter? These are people who faced discrimination and obstacles that most of us will never encounter, based solely on their sexual identity. Their lives should be celebrated. They should not be labeled, because they deserve so much more.

The importance of LGBTQ identity is a subject far too big to discuss here. My message is that we should remember the people who were murdered as whole people, with full lives that are multi-faceted and complex.

ORLANDO SYLLABUS FOR SOCIAL WORKERS Compiled by Karen Zgoda and Pat Shelly

Syllabi:

General

On Orlando and Beyond. (2016). Danna Bodenheimer. http://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/real-world-clinical-sw/on-orlando-and-beyond/
Excerpt: There isn’t much for me to say about Orlando that hasn’t already been said. Most of the debates about the underlying causes of this massacre have happened somewhere in the media or on Facebook. That said, it seems irresponsible and avoidant to write about anything else this week – because, the fact is, even with everything that has already been articulated, we need to keep talking. And talking and talking and talking. And while I have no overarching goal in talking about what happened in Orlando, there are a few points that I would like to make that feel particularly relevant to us as clinical social workers.

*Deken, Sebastian. “What I want you to talk about when you talk about the Orlando shooting.” Upworthy, 13 June 2016. Upworthy.http://www.upworthy.com/what-i-want-you-to-talk-about-when-you-talk-about-the-orlando-shooting Excerpt: “Calls for reforming gun policy, and calls for love instead of terror are valid. But this attack did not occur randomly; it was not aimed at the general public. It was aimed at queer people.And addressing it as though the identities of the victims are of tertiary importance — identities for which real people bled to death — is more than dishonest. It’s a new kind of erasure, a quieter kind of violence. “

*Flores, Veronica Bayettl. “The Pulse Nightclub Shooting Robbed The Queer Latinx Community Of A Sanctuary.” Remezcla, 13 June 2016.http://remezcla.com/features/music/pulse-nightclub-sanctuary/Excerpt “Islamophobic headlines that completely miss the mark on the ways LGBTQ Latinxs experience violence in this country, and distract from true solutions…yet few mainstream media sources turned their attention toward an escalating climate of violence in the United States against LGBTQ people – and transgender women of color in particular – that has nothing to do with Islamic extremism. “

*Kim, Richard. “Please Don’t Stop the Music.” The Nation, 12 June 2016.http://www.thenation.com/article/please-dont-stop-the-music/Excerpt “Gay bars are therapy for people who can’t afford therapy; temples for people who lost their religion, or whose religion lost them; vacations for people who can’t go on vacation; homes for folk without families; sanctuaries against aggression.”